The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartik (RAJUK) itself recently said that if a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs on the Madhupur Fault in Tangail, Bangladesh, 40 percent of the buildings in the capital city of Dhaka could collapse and more than 200,000 people could die. Now the question is, is there no safe area in Dhaka?

As a result, it has once again raised concerns among the residents of the capital. The question has come to the fore as to whether there is any safe space, especially in the densely populated and heavily regulated multi-storey buildings. BBC News.

Experts say that while Dhaka's geological structure and fault line location are favorable for dealing with disasters, irregularities in building construction, expansion of filled land, and overpopulation have put the city in the face of a complex equation.

Which areas of Dhaka are safe from earthquakes?

Experts say that to understand how safe an area is, you need to look at two aspects.

One. The geological structure of the city. Two. The infrastructure of the city.

Geologist Syed Humayun Akhtar describes the geological issue thus, "The geological structure of Dhaka and its surrounding areas is almost the same. Most of the soil, especially in the northern part, is the red soil of Madhupur. It is quite hard."

But from the Mughal period, through the British period, the Pakistan period, and after independence, the city expanded rapidly northwards and around the Buriganga River. At that time, this red soil became 'occupied'.

Then the city began to grow east-west. There were soft alluvial soils and water bodies that were filled in.

Akhtar said that if only the geological structure is considered, then areas with the same composition of red soil in Madhupur, such as Ramna, Moghbazar, New Market, Lalmatia, Khilgaon, Motijheel, Dhanmondi, Lalbagh, Mirpur, Gulshan, Tejgaon, etc., are relatively safe.

But the safety of Dhaka residents does not depend solely on geological formations.

Mehedi Ahmed Ansari, a professor at the Civil Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said it is difficult to say which areas of Dhaka are safe and which are not. Until the buildings are inspected, it cannot be said which are risky or risk-free.

Why are buildings in red soil areas also risky?

Hard ground areas are also not completely safe. The first reason for this is that there are many old buildings in those areas that have not been properly maintained. Due to the lack of monitoring, they are also now unsafe.

Citing another reason, Humayun said, there are buildings in those areas that were approved for maybe two or three floors, but later they were converted into multi-storey buildings. The foundation is two floors, but the standing seven floors. These are unauthorized and risky.

In addition, irregularities are being committed in the construction of new buildings, and low-quality raw materials are being used. As a result, the buildings are not being built to be earthquake-resistant.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, environmental advisor to the interim government of Bangladesh, recently cited RAJUK statistics showing that 90 percent of buildings in Dhaka violate building codes.

However, after the 5.7 magnitude earthquake on November 21, RAJUK said that they had identified 300 buildings in Dhaka as 'at risk' after conducting an emergency survey following several earthquakes in Bangladesh in the past few days.